From research or disease recognition, to simple communication and transportation, technology is being integrated into every aspect of the medical practice. Developed nations and developing nations alike are striving to reach optimum efficiency and organization with their respective resources. For many nations, this task of making hospitals and clinics electronic has proved extremely difficult. The challenges both developed and developing nations face require input from all fields of engineering. Modernization would be cost-efficient, saving countless lives and improving overall global health. Therefore, this task is well-worth engineers’ attention and public and private funding.
In the United States, the innovations at the Mayo Clinic and the Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan, are only two examples of integration of new technology into the medical filed.
The advantages are simply innumerable. With high population and expectation for superb “customer service” in medical care, comes a demand for improving efficieny and accuarcy of diagnosis, as well as treatment. The main objective of modernization is to make “medical treatments to [suit] individual patients--such as picking the best chemotherapy for a colon cancer patient with a specific genetic marker” [2]. Innovative software, such as pattern-recognition tools, can be used to find an individual’s protein or genetic make-up, helping researchers uncover “medical mysteries” [2].
Currently, hospitals and research laboratories are not all on the same technological level, varying because of need and funding. For example, the Mayo Clinic and IBM are trying to “apply pattern recognition and data mining to electronic records of 4.4 million patients.” This endeavor, however, will not be completed for about ten years. After the system is firmly established, IBM plans to expand so other institutions will have the same capabilities. Mayo and IBM obviously have the financial capabilities to focus new innovations on detailed study, rather than on basic administering care.
In 2006, Bronson Methodist Hospital, on the other hand, will introduce a system that allows physicians and nurses to inquire advice from a smart computer system about “the best way to practice medicine” [3], including offering extensive records on individual patients. Being the Bronson is a smaller establishment, it is logical that their modernization efforts are focused on administering care.
According to IEEE Technology & Society Magazine, “Many developing countries organize primary healthcare around two types of care centers. At the most basic level is Health Posts (HP), in other countries called surgeries. HPs are the way most citizens gain access to the healthcare system. At the higher level are Health Centers (HC), also referred to as either basic polyclinics or ambulatory care centers, depending on the country” [1]. This system is extremely primitive compared to those that exist in developed nations (see “Where are we in the process”).
Primarily, the advantages to modernizing medicine in developing nations is to improve health by improving and modernizig methods (such as creating a sterile surgical environment or using newly discovered drugs). Using modern technology also will further the development of the nation, connecting it to resources and innovations in other fields as well.
The level of advances also varies in developing nations according to need, funding, but also according to international attention. The Alto Amazonas province of Peru, for example, has only one non-asphalt road, which links the capital with the rest of the country. All other surface transport for the medical network within the province has to be carried out by riverboat. Three studies by "Hispano-American Health Link" (including The Biomedical Engineering and Telemedicine Group of the Technical University of Madrid and the non-governmental organization Engineering Without Frontiers) have transpired in this region in search of improving the local healthcare system. The studies gave insight into developing nations’ healthcare systems, outlining problems and solutions.
The “Hispano-American Health Link” studies noted the statistics concerning their newly implemented technology in the Peru healthcare system. The new system bypassed common transportation, communication and electricity-shortage problems with various methods. To connect the HPs and HCs, the system supplied a “low consumption email server (located at the HC) [that] stores the email messages of the health micronet and forwards them to the Internet through five telephone calls every day, optimizing telephone costs, which are shared by all the sites belonging to the micronet. In order to simplify the network topology, the Peruvian government collaborated with the project by installing 7 telephone lines. The server’s main power is provided through a battery charger, taking advantage of the four hours of electricity in the capital district and optimizing the battery load”[1].
Developed nations have the education and resources to incoorporate new technology, whereas, developing nations are stretched in many directions. Developing nations cannot place all their funds or capability to the healthcare system alone. The solution is for private funding to help local and international healthcare systems modernize. This funding may only be for one aspect or simple innovation, or may introduce an intire new system (such as the “Hispano-American Health Link” study).
The next step is to realize the importance of modernizing the healthcare systems. By modernizing, the entire nation will be connected more efficiently with itself (giving superior medical care) and the world.